During the daytime, in the suburbs of Glamorgan, above Dazzle Star Lake, Dorothy drifted on a small boat upon the tranquil lake surface, floating within the Shadow of the new moon that should have been there. Just as Dorothy was searching for the traces of the so-called invisible door, two items she carried with her suddenly reacted.
One was a fragment of black jade that Dorothy had obtained from Ku Chi, brought back by the great explorer from the Lost Sea in the East. The other was the ring of concealment left by Dorothy's mother, whom she had never met. Both items were closely related to the Mirror Moon faith. At this moment, Dorothy couldn't help but carefully examine these two strange objects, which were emitting a faint silver Light.
'This black moon fragment... is a treasure Bartholomew obtained in the Lost Sea, seemingly part of something called the 'Moon Crown'. According to the information from the fragments of Ku Chi's secret transmission, the Moon Crown is a key item for crossing the Lost Sea to reach the Night Sea, and can even help the Black Dream Hunter Group pass through the chaotic forbidden zone created by Pan Moth's'Saint Cocoon'.
'According to the information in Ku Chi's secret transmission, this so-called 'Moon Crown' seems to be a type of key, one that can pass through restrictions caused by the power of Shadow. After being worn, this black jade fragment has the effect of reducing the wearer's exposure to the extraordinary power of Shadow. Perhaps this is a manifestation of this 'key's' ability after being weakened? Is its current reaction due to the invisible door?
'Also, my heirloom ring seems to have reacted a bit... Is this a situation caused by resonating with the black jade fragment? Or is it because of that door?'
Looking at the black jade fragment and the ring in her hand, Dorothy thought this to herself. But after a moment, she stopped thinking so much. The reaction of these items made her realize that her previous deduction was likely correct; her opportunity had arrived.
After a brief round of contemplation, Dorothy decided to make some attempts. She tightened her grip on the black jade fragment, which was still emitting a faint Light, then took a deep breath, and slowly extended the hand holding the fragment over the edge of the small boat, reaching towards the lake surface.
Finally, Dorothy's hand entered the water. After slightly shaking her arm and feeling the situation underwater, she widened her eyes slightly, a look of understanding appearing in them.
"So... this is how it is?"
Taking her hand out of the water, Dorothy murmured softly. After feeling the situation underwater, she roughly knew what to do next.
Just in case, Dorothy first took out a water-absorbing talisman and applied it to herself. After the talisman's ability took effect, she used the miniature Corpse Puppets and bird corpse puppets scattered in various locations to carefully check her surroundings. After confirming that no one was watching her, she slowly climbed to the side of the boat and looked at her reflection in the lake. Her gaze seemed to be able to see the invisible moon Shadow above the lake surface.
Then, Dorothy's expression became firm, and she resolutely leaped towards the lake surface. In a small splash, Dorothy sank beneath the surface, disappearing without a trace after the ripples spread.
For a moment, only one Corpse Puppet remained sitting in the small boat on the lake surface. After the ripples calmed, the clear lake surface returned to normal. The Mirror Lake-like surface beside the boat still reflected the sky and the boat. Dorothy's figure had completely disappeared, seeming to have rapidly sunk to the deep bottom of the lake, or perhaps melted and dissolved immediately after entering the water.
In short, Dazzle Star Lake under the daytime sun remained as calm as ever. The small ripple just now went unnoticed by anyone, as if it had never happened.
Here was a Silent and hazy space. Pitch-black darkness enveloped the entire sky, extending to the distant horizons in all directions. Beneath this illusion and darkness, there were towering mountains and dense trees, but neither the mountains nor the trees had a single trace of color on them. Whether red or blue, yellow or green, all colors were absent here. Everything was in a distorted, colorless state. What was presented under the dim and dark sky was such a colorless and strange world.
In this colorless world, what possessed color was a bright mirror, a huge, irregularly shaped bright mirror emitting a faint Light. It was nestled within the embrace of the colorless mountains, and countless colored scenes flowed within it.
Suddenly, this bright mirror showed a slight reaction. At a certain point on the mirror's surface, a ripple suddenly appeared. This ripple quickly intensified and expanded, becoming outward-spreading waves. At this moment, this bright mirror revealed that it was seemingly not just a simple mirror surface, but an extremely thin, extremely calm and smooth water surface.
From the part of the water surface where ripples were spreading, a figure suddenly surged out and floated on the surface. Dorothy, soaking wet, let out a long breath after emerging from the water.
Dorothy, who had just emerged from the lake surface, looked at the illusory dark sky around her. After a slight daze, she applied Electrification to herself, using magnetic force to control the metal hidden in her clothes, slowly lifting herself up, detaching from the water, and suspending herself in mid-air.
Suspended above the water surface like a perfect mirror, Dorothy was able to better observe the strange space around her. After taking another look around at the surrounding colorless mountains and the distant town, she murmured.
"Is this... the space hidden within Dazzle Star Lake?"
Saying this, Dorothy began to survey other parts of the surrounding space. She lowered her head and looked down. What she saw was the huge and wide water surface, like a bright mirror. Suspended in mid-air, Dorothy could easily see the full view of this water mirror. Its overall shape was exactly the same as Dazzle Star Lake in the real world.
In Dorothy's eyes, this water mirror was reflecting scenes that did not exist in this space. Looking from top to bottom, Dorothy could see the blue sky, white clouds, and the radiant sun wheel displayed in the water mirror. The edges of the water mirror reflected a ring of towering verdant mountains. In the center of the water mirror, she could also see a small boat slowly moving, though from Dorothy's perspective, she could only see the bottom of the boat.
The scenery within this lake surface was the only color in this colorless space. More precisely, the colors from the real world were projected into this space through the lake surface.
In Dorothy's eyes, the water mirror below her displayed a scene from an entirely different world, the scene of Dazzle Star Lake in the real world. She was now as if looking up from the bottom of Dazzle Star Lake, seeing the view one would see when looking from the inside to the outside of the lake surface. However, she was not in the lake at this moment, but in another space.
At this moment, Dorothy felt as if she had entered a mirror, with the lake surface being the mirror. Within this mirrored world, everything existed in the same way as in reality, but was inverted and lacked color. The colorless mountains Dorothy saw here were exactly the same as the mountains beside Dazzle Star Lake in reality. Looking into the distance, she could even see the city of Glamorgan. The city's buildings were also without color, and not a single person was seen by the lakeside where many citizens usually strolled. Dorothy could see the inverted scene of Dazzle Star Lake in the real world through the Mirror Lake, but people on Dazzle Star Lake could not see this space.
"Is this the so-called... world behind the mirror? It's truly amazing..." Admiring the scene before her, Dorothy continued to murmur softly. Then she focused her attention back on the water mirror lake beneath her, beginning to observe the details of the Mirror Lake further.
Upon further observation, Dorothy saw that on the Mirror Lake, besides reflecting the inverted Dazzle Star Lake from the real world, eight Stone pillars also stood tall on the lake surface. These eight Stone pillars were evenly spaced and formed a large circle on the Mirror Lake. Each Stone pillar was carved with a distinct pattern. Dorothy recognized at a glance that they depicted the changes in the eight moon phases.
Crescent moon, first quarter moon, gibbous moon, full moon, waning gibbous moon, third quarter moon, waning crescent moon... On the eight Stone pillars, seven were carved with moons of different shapes, symbolizing different moon phases, while the last one had nothing carved on it, symbolizing the final and also the initial new moon. At this moment, among these eight Stone pillars, only the one symbolizing the new moon was emitting a faint glow, while the other seven remained as usual.
When Dorothy entered this space from the Mirror Lake, she also emerged from the water in front of the Stone pillar symbolizing the new moon. These eight pillars seemed to mark the locations of all the entrances to this space. Currently, only the new moon pillar was glowing, which indicated that only the invisible door associated with the new moon was available.
In the central position surrounded by this large circle of Stone pillars, stood a tall building constructed from colorless massive Stone. It seemed as if its foundation was laid in the Mirror Lake, or perhaps it was entirely floating on the water surface, giving one a strange sense of dislocation.
Looking at the tall colorless building in the distance, Dorothy's expression became serious. She then manipulated her power and slowly drifted towards the building. Before long, she approached its vicinity.
Upon getting closer, Dorothy was able to observe this tall building more closely. At first glance, it was indeed a magnificent Church. That's right, this was a Church with a touch of Shining Light Church style!
Soaring massive semi-circular domes, external walls supported by inclined pillars, large windows arranged side by side, exaggerated long corridors supported by countless columns, plain and unadorned colorless massive Stone were piled together to form this magnificent building.
Among them, the main hall with the massive dome was the most eye-catching architectural structure in the entire Church. A quick glance estimated its height to be forty to fifty meters, significantly larger than Tivian's St. Yong Cathedral. Around this largest domed main hall, many smaller domed annex buildings were attached in a very regular manner. The Church had many doors and windows, and almost all were arched.
Although this colorless grand Church had similarities with Shining Light Church buildings in some areas, it had significant differences in more places. For example, the massive dome was a style that would generally not appear on Shining Light Church buildings. Shining Light Church buildings had many sharp angles and towers, whereas this Church as a whole appeared smoother.
"I finally found it... Is this... the temple of the Mirror Moon?"
Suspended in mid-air, Dorothy looked at the massive colorless Church before her and couldn't help but murmur. Finally, after quite some effort, she had finally found this place.
After surveying this magnificent and uniquely styled grand Church from the outside, Dorothy slowly lowered herself, stepping onto the ground and walking onto the Church's long corridor. She walked on the colorless marble floor tiles, step by step, towards the interior of the Church. As she approached the Church's main door, the heavy massive door automatically opened, revealing the passage leading into the Church.
Looking at the suddenly opened door before her, Dorothy paused slightly, then firmed her resolve and continued walking into the Church. After entering the Church, she began to survey the surroundings, finding the entire interior of the Church extremely vast and empty, without any internal decoration or furnishings. Everything was so simple and plain. As far as her eyes could see, everything was architectural structure built from colorless Stone.
Dorothy continued to walk slowly within the Church. After a short while, another large door slowly opened before her. What appeared before her was a space much wider than the previous interior. This was clearly the main hall of this Church, or rather... the grand chapel.
This entire grand chapel was circular, situated under a massive circular dome. Although this grand chapel was large, it had almost no decorations within it, making one feel a sense of emptiness upon seeing it. Apart from some benches placed on the floor, there was only one statue in this grand chapel.
That was a statue belonging to the Mirror Moon Goddess, one that Dorothy had seen before. The Goddess was over ten meters tall, significantly taller and grander than the one Dorothy had seen in the An-Yin Main Bureau. A light veil robe, carved with exquisite skill, draped over her graceful figure. Silky long hair flowed down. In her hand, she held the iconic bright mirror. Although it was larger, this mirror moon statue had no significant changes in posture compared to the ones Dorothy had seen before, only minor differences.
But... it was precisely those few differences that made Dorothy, who had just cast her gaze upon the statue, freeze in place.
The mirror moon statue that appeared before Dorothy at this moment was the most complete one she had ever seen. Compared to those handled by the Eight-Pointed Nest, its head was still intact. Compared to the one in the An-Yin Main Bureau, its face was intact. And it was precisely this intact head and face that made Dorothy frown.
It was the face of a serene, graceful, and peaceful young girl, with closed eyes. This face immediately gave Dorothy a sense of familiarity upon seeing it. She stopped in place, using her extraordinary memory to trace the source of this feeling of familiarity, and the final result made her eyes widen slightly.
This feeling of familiarity came from nowhere else but from the mirror she looked into after dressing and washing her face every day – it was her own face in the mirror. The face of this mirror moon statue was extremely similar to Dorothy's own face! The similarity was at least seventy to eighty percent! If it weren't for being slightly older, it would have been almost identical!